The present invention generally pertains to orthopedic aids and is particularly directed to a water impervious cover for an arm cast or leg cast so as to keep the cast dry even though the arm or leg is totally submerged in water.
One of the first things that a patient who has just had his arm or leg placed in plaster cast hears is, "Don't get your cast wet." This is because water will cause the cast to deteriorate. As a result a person having a cast secured to his or her arm or leg is greatly inconvenienced when performing such activities as bathing, showering, or swimming.
Such patients have tried to get around this problem, by using such contrivances as covering the cast with waterproof plastic bags with the open end of the bag being secured to the skin of the arm or leg above the cast with rubber bands. This solution has not proven very satisfactory. Plastic bags are not very durable, and they are slippery so as to provide an additional hazard to a person whose mobility is already impeded by the cast. Also, the shape of a plastic bag is so much different than the shape of an arm or leg, that its fit over the arm or leg is sloppy, and it thereby provides appreciable drag resistance to a patient endeavoring to swim with a plastic bag covering his or her cast.
While a typical rubber boot can be used to cover a leg cast, it does not readily fit over an arm cast. Also, unless a hip boot is used, only a cast covering only a lower portion of the leg, such as the foot and/or ankle, could be covered by the boot. A hip boot is heavy; and it is difficult to swim with a hip boot on one's leg.
In addition it is difficult to provide a great enough pressure seal at the open end of a typical rubber boot so as to keep water from entering the open end when the leg is totally submerged in water, such as during swimming, or bathing in a tub, or soaking in a jacuzzi.